Summary
One 3-to 5-year clonal and two recent seedling-derived populations of white yam cultivars were grown and studied for the association of sex, flowering intensity, number of fruits and seed yield with vegetative characters and tuber yield. Yield was lowest in non-flowering plants and increased in the following order: male, monoecious and female plants; with females yielding almost twice as much as the non-flowering plants. The plants produced from small tuber setts, with higher leaf virus infection, low plant leafiness either had low flowering intensity, fewer fruits and seeds or even failed to flower. The sequence and timing of vegetative and reproductive processes in relation to the difference in yield between male and female plants is discussed. There is a strong indication that the intensity of flowering and fruiting is lower in plants from previous vegetative propagation compared to recent seedling-serived clones.
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Akoroda, M.O., Wilson, J. & Chheda, H.R. The association of sexuality with plant traits and tuber yield in white yam. Euphytica 33, 435–442 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021142